Sleepless Nights
by thisfairytalegonebad
Summary: They both have nightmares. [James/Keith]


**Jaith/Jeith week day 2 on Tumblr, prompt is "nightmares". There's a lil angst, there's a lil fluff, and it's almost as sappy as the last one. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Keith? Keith, come back, you're okay!"

Keith is breathing harshly, sitting up in his bed as he only slowly starts to notice his surroundings. It's dark, but the moon is shining through the window glass, giving everything a pale tint. He's in bed, legs covered by the blanket, but his upper half is left bare, and he shivers as he realizes how cool it is in the bedroom.

Unconsciously, he pulls it up some more before he turns his head towards the person sitting next to him.

James.

"I'm… I'm back," Keith whispers after a few missed beats.

James releases a breath he'd been holding. "Okay, good. Lie back down?"

With a slow nod, Keith complied, lowering himself back down onto the soft mattress. He lies there on his back for a while, staring up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes. Next to him, James moves to find Keith's hand.

"Shiro again?"

"Yeah," Keith whispers. He has nightmares about a lot of things, but… Shiro's clone trying to kill him is definitely high on the list. Biting his lip, he catches himself glancing at the phone on his nightstand from the corner of his eye.

Of course, James catches on immediately. "Wanna call him?"

Keith shakes his head, though. "He's probably asleep anyway, it's in the middle of the night." Plus, he doesn't think hearing Shiro's voice right now would do him any good, but he doesn't say it. Instead, he rolls on his right side and shuffles closer to James until he's close enough to rest his head on James' shoulder, face nearly buried against his neck.

James turns his head so he can press a kiss on Keith's head. "Really? You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Keith sighs tiredly. "Thanks, James. For being here."

"Yeah, sure," James whispers back, never letting go of Keith's hand.

* * *

Most of the nights in which Keith doesn't have nightmares, James has them instead.

He doesn't bolt upright like Keith does, and he doesn't scream or yell either. His eyes just open wide and he's suddenly fully alert, feeling hyper-aware of his rapid heartbeat and too fast breathing.

Carefully, to avoid waking Keith next to him, he sits up and reaches blindly for the bottle of water on his nightstand. After a few sips, he feels a little better already, so he leans out of the bed a little to put the bottle back on the nightstand.

When he goes to lie back down, Keith stirs next to him. Shit. He can't even be quiet enough to let his boyfriend sleep, couldn't do shit against the Galra, wasn't even able to save his family. How he hasn't gotten his entire team killed yet really is beyond him, these days, he truly feels like he can't do anything.

There's the overwhelming urge to check up on his team, to text each of them to make sure they're all in bed safe and sound, and not being killed, tortured or enslaved. When he closes his eyes, he still sees the images his mind came up with in his dreams, and it doesn't even matter none of it ever actually happened to one of his friends. He's seen it happen enough to other people, it's not hard to imagine.

He quickly presses his hand over his mouth, hard enough for it to hurt, but it's not enough to quite stifle a choked sob.

Next to him, Keith is waking up for good, sitting up sleepily as soon as he catches on. "Hey, you okay?"

James sniffles. "I…" he trails off, he really wants to lie, tell Keith he's fine and try to go back to sleep, but he's already crying pathetically so there isn't really any point in it, is there.

"You wanna tell me about it?"

"No, it's just…" James sighs in defeat, breath hitching since he's still crying. "Same as always, really. No point in it."

Keith nods understandingly. "Okay. I won't force you. Think you can go back to sleep, or should we get up? It's a little early, but the sun is already starting to rise, so…"

James wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and makes a face. He still feels bone tired, and the thought of a few more hours of sleep is definitely tempting.

"I'm… not okay," he admits, belatedly, and not an appropriate reply to Keith's most recent question, but he feels like he has to say it. He trusts Keith with his life, after all. He can trust him with his emotions.

He moves, so he's lower on the bed, and cuddles up against Keith who is lying on his side, with his face buried in Keith's stomach and his arms wrapped around Keith's middle. "But I will be."

Keith doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around James' head protectively, and James is asleep within seconds.

* * *

 **Here's the link to the Tumblr post for this event for anyone who's interested: post/177174562099/james-and-keith-week-is-anyone-really-surprised**


End file.
